“Approximately 30 minutes ago C-1 exited the Petworth Metro Station and started walking eastbound on Randolph Street when C-1 noticed four suspects following. C-1 began to run. The suspects caught up to C-1 in front of 502 Randolph and struck C-1 multiple times knocking him to the ground. All four suspects continued to strike him as one suspect removed property from his pocket. S-1 through S-4 fled westbound and ran up 7th street.

All four suspects were described as being approximately 18 years of age. (more…)

“Every day the Metropolitan Police Department works to recover and investigate illegal firearms in Washington D.C. In addition to our patrol officers, the Department has specialized units-such as the Gun Recovery Unit (GRU), Criminal Interdiction Unit (CIU), and Crime Suppression Teams-who work tirelessly to safely and respectfully secure illegal firearms and get them off of our streets. From Friday, December 2, 2016, through the morning of Monday, December 5, 2016, MPD detectives and officers recovered 13 illegal firearms in the District of Columbia.

“Youth Act offenders accounted for 1 in 5 suspects arrested on homicide charges in the District since 2010, a period that has seen a recent surge in homicides and growing public concern about repeat violent offenders.

The cycle of violence has been largely shrouded from public view or oversight. D.C. judges do not track the use of the law, which provides a collection of benefits to violent felons that experts say does not exist anywhere else in the country.

SECOND-CHANCE CITY | This is part of a continuing series that will examine issues related to repeat violent offenders in the District of Columbia. Part I | Part II | Part IV“

“Comet Ping Pong is a beloved institution in Washington. We are heartened by the support and loyalty of our customers and our community — they are our lifeblood and we will continue to serve them joyfully for the decades to come and beyond.

Tonight, we are deeply grateful to the local law enforcement officers who responded swiftly to our call. Thanks to their good work, I am confident that we will continue to operate safely and securely, as we have for the past decade. We also honor our employees tonight, who went above and beyond the call of duty to make sure that our customers were safe.

There will be a time and place to address how and why this happened in greater detail. For now, I will simply say that we should all condemn the efforts of certain people to spread malicious and utterly false accusations about Comet Ping Pong, a venerated DC institution. Let me state unequivocally: these stories are completely and entirely false, and there is no basis in fact to any of them. What happened today demonstrates that promoting false and reckless conspiracy theories comes with consequences. I hope that those involved in fanning these flames will take a moment to contemplate what happened here today, and stop promoting these falsehoods right away.

I want to thank everyone for their concern. We look forward to resuming normal operations in the next few days. We are confident that Comet Ping Pong will continue be a safe, happy and hospitable place for this community.

– James Alefantis, owner of Comet Ping Pong”

An event to support Comet has been organized by Erick Sanchez and scheduled for this Friday:

Comet Ping Pong Pizza is a family-friendly neighborhood pizzeria that has come under attack in the age of fake news. On Sunday, December 4, the attack became literal when an unidentified man entered the establishment with an assault rifle.

No doubt this awful event and the malicious mistruths spread beforehand have left the staff feeling unsafe and on edge. They need a little light in all this darkness.

So go eat at Comet Ping Pong this Friday, December 9th (open 11:30 AM – 10:45 PM). Thank the staff for being a part of our community. Tell them you have their back. Tip well. Post your support on social media with the hashtag #StandWithComet. And please promote this event beforehand far and wide — share it on Facebook, post about it on Twitter, tell your friends about it, post it on your neighborhood listserv, or write a story about it, because it all helps.

“The Metropolitan Police Department has announced an arrest in an Assault with a Dangerous Weapon (Gun) offense that occurred on Sunday, December 4, 2016, in the 5000 block of Connecticut Avenue, Northwest.

At approximately 2:58 pm, members of the Second District received a call for a man with a firearm. The suspect entered the location and pointed a firearm in the direction of the victim who is an employee of the restaurant. The victim was able to flee and notify police. The suspect proceeded to discharge the rifle inside of the establishment. Members of the Second District responded and arrested the suspect without incident. Two firearms were recovered inside the location. An additional weapon was recovered from the suspect’s vehicle. There were no reported injuries.

On Sunday, December 4, 2016, 28-year-old Edgar Maddison Welch of Salisbury, North Carolina was arrested and charged with Assault with a Dangerous Weapon (Gun).

During a post arrest interview this evening, the suspect revealed that he came to the establishment to self-investigate “Pizza Gate” (a fictitious online conspiracy theory).

This case remains under investigation. Anyone who has information regarding this case should call police at 202-727-9099. Additionally, information may be submitted to the TEXT TIP LINE by text messaging 50411.” (more…)

I wanted to share this feel good story because my confidence in local police (in Arlington) was just reaffirmed.

On Tuesday night I was driving to DC from the Rosslyn at 6:45 pm and was sitting in bumper to bumper traffic on Key Bridge. When the two lanes become three, the car behind me veered into the far left lane to prevent me from merging. He pulled his car up next to mine and proceeded to yell obscenities at me through our open windows (it was an unusually warm night). When the light finally changed he pulled ahead of me, scratching the front left side of my car. Traffic was horrible, so I was forced to sit behind him for another 10 minutes until we were able to turn left. During that time, he removed items from his car and threw them at my car. When we were finally able to turn onto M, I pulled off the road to avoid him any further (clearly he was not going to pull over to exchange insurance information). (more…)

“On 12/1/2016 at approximately 8pm MPD responded to sounds of Gun Shots in the 1800 block of Capitol Ave NE. Upon arriving on scene a Male was found in the driver seat of a Green Ford Van suffering from multiple gunshot wounds to his back. The male was transported to the hospital for treatment but was pronounced while at the hospital. This case is under investigation by MPD Homicide branch”